On Friday 24th June we met Jake Wynne, the director of our 5ive music video. His talk about the process of shooting and editing a music video revealed more about the world of music than I'd ever known.
The main points of his talk:
When shooting from different set ups, you should shoot a full take, even if you only need a verse or chorus, because there may be an actor who does something that just fits right in the music video that you would have missed if only recording each section individually
Beauty shots are very important in music videos. They show the singer in a 'perfect' light, it is almost impossible to look bad in these shots. In order to eliminate major shadows, strong backlights must be used in combination with main lights to illuminate the singer.
When performing, one must actually sing, otherwise ones vocal chords will not vibrate and this is easily seen on camera and it just looks wrong. This ruins the authenticity of the video and viewers will be able to tell almost instantly.
Trying to do too much at once (e.g. Jake's Nojahoda video) often generates a confusing narrative with conflicting values, so keeping it simple makes things easier for everyone, both viewers and directors.
The standard music video shoot is 12 hours long, sometimes longer. This will obviously take a lot out of your actors so it's extremely important to keep everyone peppy and well rested, not to mention the crew.
Complications may arise on the day that cause significant delays. It is the job of the director to pick out the right shots to save time and the job of the assistant director to put their foot down and make sure the director moves on from a shot.
Most importantly, I saw proof that media can be a real path to success if you play your cards right. Jake is an ex-Latymerian, going from making short films in Epping Forest to directing music videos for Geri Halliwell and Mark Ronson, which shows that perseverence and dedication is key.
From the beginning of the video, the audience is introduced to a thick Japanimation art style, which immediately goes on to interest the audience with its pseudo realistic style. The industrial/steampunk theme with the revolving gears ties in with the gritty narrative, reflecting its dark nature and implications of drug use. The world is dark, grimy and depressive, with all the colour palettes dull and cold. The whole nature of the song is shown in the very first scene, providing an instant insight into the vibe of the song, as well as an impact.
2 - Non-linear editing
Although there are several narratives within the music video, the editing cuts between them constantly, utilising cross cutting to create a sense of everything happening at once. It starts from the dead man on the car to a frustrated office worker to a depressed girl who cuts herself with a mirror shard to a crying pregnant woman, with the lead singer's face flashing in at times. However, all of the scenes are tied together with a wisp ghostly smog, which flows around the different scenes, showing that they are all related in some way.
3 - Repetitions
The deceased man on the car is a main feature throughout the music video, his face is cut to several times. Given that the music video starts running in reverse about half way through, the scenes are both repeated and added to, revealing the story behind the depressive or frustrated scenes from before. Another common theme throughout the music video is the appearance of gears and smoke, which suggests that there is no freedom in their lives, that they're repeating the same day over and over like a clockwork toy. The music video takes place in a city, meaning that all the buildings are tall apartment blocks, the people within them just a tiny fragment of the larger society.
4 - Strong sense of artist identity
This song is pure Linkin Park, rich emotion, strong narrative and a message to convey, all of which is done through the anime style. In addition, the appearance of Chester's face (lead singer) throughout helps to brand it as Linkin Park, as well as the scene at the end where the band finishes playing the song.
5 - A Performance
The music video is full of drama, revealing the lives of several people shown to be frustrated with their lives, in addition to the literal performance in the last scene. The band has been rotoscoped in the last scene and animated with the very iconic Japanime style. The camera zooms in and out of the scene, focussing both on the invidual band member and the band as a whole. The video pulses and distortes with the beat of the music, resulting in a very powerful and emotional video.
6 - Visual Pleasures
The anime mechanical style is absolutely fantastic for fans of the genre, the animation is fluid and smooth, whilst portraying a grim, gritty world with complete authenticity. The constant movement in every scene makes the video lively and exciting, despite its dark undertones.
7 - Wow Factor!
Again, the animation is very impressive, as well as the narrative, creating a truely amazing video. The story doesn't link in with the song lyrics but they have the same theme, which gives the sense of the song being written for these people.
8 - Provoke a reaction
The audience will watch this video, listen to the lyrics and compare. They will compare it to themselves and their lives, they will wonder whether they've ever been in this situation and they will fervertly hope that they never experience it or relate to it if they have. They will pity the characters in this web of characters woven by the narrative. The music video certainly provoked a reaction within the MTV community, going on to win the 2004 MTV VMA Viewer's Choice Award.
9 - Works on different levels
Breaking The Habit was written by Mike Shinoda, based on a close friend's drug addiction, however, it is usually assumed that Chester wrote it due to his own drug abuse issues. The title obviously references this, although the music further breaks it down into all the depression and frustration that you can feel and plays off that instead. The music video makes perfect sense when you go deeper. Why did Chester commit suicide? Why did the girl cut herself and think herself useless? They were in a cycle of depression and the lyrics reflect that. So they were trying to break the habit, get out of their downward spiral, do what was right instead of what was easy. So on top of the obvious themes of depression and suicide, there is a hidden theme of escape, of breaking barriers and trying to free oneself from the shackles of expectation. What makes this music video so great is that its themes are something everyone can relate to, because it's so easy to fall into a state of self pity.
10 - Pop Culture
The only reference to popular culture in this music video is the anime art style, which is becoming more and more popular in western culture nowadays. Films like Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke have brought anime to the west and interest in it is on an upwards spiral.
My name is Frank Tan, 18, candidate number 3795, currently attending The Latymer School in Edmonton, London. I am studying Media, Maths and Physics and plan to take all three to Bournemouth University in order to take a Computer and Visual Animation course. As I intend on going into the games industry, Media is a prime starting point.
